Etymology
The word "tank" originally meant "artificial lake" and came from India, perhaps via Portuguese tanque. It may have some connection with:
- Some Indian language words similar to "tak" or "tank" and meaning "reservoir for water". In Sanskrit a holding pond or reservoir is called a tadaka. Gujarati talao means "man-made lake". These uses of the word were incorporated into the English language.
- The Arabic verb istanqa`a اِسْتَنْقَعَ = "it collected and became stagnant".
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)